If there’s been one thing missing from GoldenEar’s amazing speaker lineup this far, it would have to be a big, beefy center channel speaker to match the heft and sonic output of its incredible Triton towers. All of that is about to change, as Sandy Gross is set to lift the lid on not one, but two new substantial centers at next week’s CEDIA EXPO — the SuperCenter X (SCX) and SuperCenter XL (SCXL) — both of which were developed as a direct result of dealer and customer feedback. Sandy describes the SuperCenter X and SuperCenter XL as “more substantial, more traditional, center channel loudspeakers … most appropriate for use in installations that can accommodate larger units, and that don’t necessarily require the more compact, svelte profiles and/or on-wall or on-bracket mounting options of our very popular and highly reviewed SuperSat center channels.”

I describe them as freaking sexy.

Both the SuperCenter X and SuperCenter XL incorporate a pair of newly developed long-throw 5-¼-inch mid/bass drivers with spiderleg cast baskets and multi-vaned phase plugs, flanking one of the company’s High Velocity Folded Ribbon (HVFR) tweeters. What sets the two apart is the top-mounted pressure-coupled quadratic planar low-frequency radiators (which not only extend bass response, but also provide the mid/bass drivers with “ideal acoustic loading and damping): the SuperCenter X relies on one 7×10-inch planar radiator, whereas the SuperCenter XL encorporates a pair of 6-¾ x 8-inch radiators.

The SuperCenter X and SuperCenter XL reportedly sound very similar to the company’s SuperSats (as well they should — those things rock) with increased dynamic range, impact, and low-frequency extension. Low frequency extension on the SuperCenter X is 45 Hz, with the SuperCenter XL dipping down to a positively meaty 36 Hz. Rawr!

And as is typical of all of GoldenEar’s offerings, the price is, like, practically nothing: $599 for the SuperCenter X and $799 for the SuperCenter XL. Expect to see them showing up at authorized dealers very, very soon.

The other GoldenEar development that I’m most interested in witnessing myself at CEDIA is the fact that Sandy has apparently lost his mind. Why, you ask? Because he’ll be demoing a completely in-wall/in-ceiling home theater system in the company’s sound room (SR 6). If you’ve never been to the show, the sound rooms are effectively office cubicles with an office-cubicle ceiling. In other words, there’s not much in the way of drywall to cut into.

Somehow or another, though, the company plans to demo a 5.1-channel home theater system consisting of three Invisa Home Theater Reference (HTR) 7000 in-ceiling speakers, two Invisa MultiPolar MPX in-wall/in-ceiling speakers (both of which we’ve written about a few times, but neither of which I’ve actually heard), and two of the company’s ForceField 5 Ultra-High-Powered Subwoofers.

It remains to be seen what sort of kooky modifications Sandy and his crew had to make to the sound room to pull this off, but he did drop this in an email: “We’ve never actually demonstrated these at a show, as it is hell on wheels to do so, but thought it was a great opportunity to do it … there’s nothing like a challenge.”

But wait, there’s more… and I can’t tell you about it yet, unfortunately. GoldenEar does have one more big announcement up its sleeve for the show, but you’ll have to wait ’til next Wednesday to find out what that is.

Features

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